Test requirements if a traffic lights changes from amber to green while I'm in a country?

Alan_Bowen

Yes if the BBC story is correct and Portugal is moving to amber, with no warning list as previously promised, no one in their right mind is going to book anything else this summer. It is also reported there are no new green countries but a number of amber moving red

epm-84

casjen said:

Cue all the Portugal panic.. though of course all affected will have taken out appropriate insurance...ay 

Travel insurance with COVID cover will cover for not being allowed to take your scheduled flight home due to a positive COVID test but it won't cover you for costs/losses incurred in wanting to switch to an earlier flight to avoid quarantine on return or loss of earnings by having to quarantine on your return.

couriervanman

Alan_Bowen said:

Yes if the BBC story is correct and Portugal is moving to amber, with no warning list as previously promised, no one in their right mind is going to book anything else this summer. It is also reported there are no new green countries but a number of amber moving red

It was always going to happen with most people resigned to that fact self included, booking a UK break this year and hopefully back to normal summer 2022.But 16000 football fans being allowed in plus until the rest of Europe catches up with vaccine jabs you'd have to be mad to book up, and be resigned to the fact that if you did self isolation would be expected. So anybody who has booked a family holiday to Portugal you have my sympathy but what were you expecting

jimi_man

epm-84 said:

Do note that if the place you're going to is amber when you fly out then you're going to an area which the government advises against non-essential travel. Therefore, unless you have travel insurance from a specialist provider like Staysure or Battleface that covers travel against FCDO advice then you won't be insured for the trip.

That's not correct. FCDO advice does not mirror Govt 'traffic light' advice. In the case of Portugal for example, or some of the Greek islands, whilst they are on the amber list, the FCDO warning is not in place. Therefore your travel insurance won''t necessarily be invalidated.

Assuming you have travel insurance of course, it's not mandatory and many people don't bother with it.  

epm-84

jimi_man said:

epm-84 said:

Do note that if the place you're going to is amber when you fly out then you're going to an area which the government advises against non-essential travel. Therefore, unless you have travel insurance from a specialist provider like Staysure or Battleface that covers travel against FCDO advice then you won't be insured for the trip.

That's not correct. FCDO advice does not mirror Govt 'traffic light' advice. In the case of Portugal for example, or some of the Greek islands, whilst they are on the amber list, the FCDO warning is not in place. Therefore your travel insurance won''t necessarily be invalidated.

Assuming you have travel insurance of course, it's not mandatory and many people don't bother with it.  

At the present time Portugal is still a green country.  You could still fly out today and flying home on Monday and it wouldn't be against any government guidance.  That will change on Tuesday.

molerat

couriervanman said:

Alan_Bowen said:

Yes if the BBC story is correct and Portugal is moving to amber, with no warning list as previously promised, no one in their right mind is going to book anything else this summer. It is also reported there are no new green countries but a number of amber moving red

It was always going to happen with most people resigned to that fact self included, booking a UK break this year and hopefully back to normal summer 2022.But 16000 football fans being allowed in plus until the rest of Europe catches up with vaccine jabs you'd have to be mad to book up, and be resigned to the fact that if you did self isolation would be expected. So anybody who has booked a family holiday to Portugal you have my sympathy but what were you expecting

This X1000.  Anybody booking / going overseas and did not factor in some form of isolation on return has to have their common sense questioned.

jimi_man

epm-84 said:

jimi_man said:

epm-84 said:

Do note that if the place you're going to is amber when you fly out then you're going to an area which the government advises against non-essential travel. Therefore, unless you have travel insurance from a specialist provider like Staysure or Battleface that covers travel against FCDO advice then you won't be insured for the trip.

That's not correct. FCDO advice does not mirror Govt 'traffic light' advice. In the case of Portugal for example, or some of the Greek islands, whilst they are on the amber list, the FCDO warning is not in place. Therefore your travel insurance won''t necessarily be invalidated.

Assuming you have travel insurance of course, it's not mandatory and many people don't bother with it.  

At the present time Portugal is still a green country.  You could still fly out today and flying home on Monday and it wouldn't be against any government guidance.  That will change on Tuesday.

Yes I understand that. However there is no guarantee that the FCO advice will change. For example Corfu, Rhodes and other islands are all Amber at the moment. Yet the FCO do not have any ‘only essential travel’ to them at present, so travel insurance will still be valid. 

You’re confusing Govt advice with FCO advice (which most travel insurance is based on). 

eskbanker

jimi_man said:

You’re confusing Govt advice with FCO advice

That's not a particularly accurate characterisation - the traffic light system for arriving into the UK is the responsibility of the Department for Transport, while the detailed advice for travelling from the UK to other countries is managed (separately) by the FCDO, but both of them are obviously arms of the government!

epm-84

jimi_man said:

epm-84 said:

jimi_man said:

epm-84 said:

Do note that if the place you're going to is amber when you fly out then you're going to an area which the government advises against non-essential travel. Therefore, unless you have travel insurance from a specialist provider like Staysure or Battleface that covers travel against FCDO advice then you won't be insured for the trip.

That's not correct. FCDO advice does not mirror Govt 'traffic light' advice. In the case of Portugal for example, or some of the Greek islands, whilst they are on the amber list, the FCDO warning is not in place. Therefore your travel insurance won''t necessarily be invalidated.

Assuming you have travel insurance of course, it's not mandatory and many people don't bother with it.  

At the present time Portugal is still a green country.  You could still fly out today and flying home on Monday and it wouldn't be against any government guidance.  That will change on Tuesday.

Yes I understand that. However there is no guarantee that the FCO advice will change. For example Corfu, Rhodes and other islands are all Amber at the moment. Yet the FCO do not have any ‘only essential travel’ to them at present, so travel insurance will still be valid. 

You’re confusing Govt advice with FCO advice (which most travel insurance is based on). 

The place being discussed in this thread the Balearic Islands.  The FCDO advice for Spain is:

"The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to Spain, including the Balearic Islands."

I've not got confused but you seem to have confused Spanish islands with Greek islands!

Boris Johnson also said in PMQs that the government advises against taking holidays to amber destinations.  Also general FCDO advice for all foreign travel is:
"To prevent new COVID variants from entering the UK, you should not travel to amber or red list countries."
(Which also appears in a header at the top of Greece and Portugal pages on the FCDO site.)
That could be enough for some travel insurers to refuse payouts, even for essential travel to amber list countries.

epm-84

eskbanker said:

jimi_man said:

You’re confusing Govt advice with FCO advice

That's not a particularly accurate characterisation - the traffic light system for arriving into the UK is the responsibility of the Department for Transport, while the detailed advice for travelling from the UK to other countries is managed (separately) by the FCDO, but both of them are obviously arms of the government!

DfT advice applies to England only (as transport is devolved in Scotland, Wales and NI), FCDO advice applies UK wide.